Jackson Jr., wife agree to plead guilty

FILE - In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. , D-Ill., and his wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, ask each other for their support and votes as they arrive at a polling station for early voting in Chicago. On Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, Jackson, who resigned last year after nearly 17 years in office, was charged with spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses. His wife, Sandi, who resigned from the City Council in January 2013, was charged with filing false income tax forms. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

Associated Press

Summary

In a spectacular fall from political prominence, former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife agreed Friday to plead guilty to federal charges growing out of what prosecutors said was a scheme to use $750,000 in campaign funds for lavish personal expenses, including a $43,000 gold watch and furs.

WASHINGTON — In a spectacular fall from political prominence, former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife agreed Friday to plead guilty to federal charges growing out of what prosecutors said was a scheme to use $750,000 in campaign funds for lavish personal expenses, including a $43,000 gold watch and furs.

Federal prosecutors filed one charge of conspiracy against the former Chicago congressman and charged his ex-alderman wife, Sandra, with one count of filing false joint federal income tax returns for the years 2006 through 2011 that knowingly understated the income the couple received. Both agreed to plead guilty in plea deals with federal prosecutors.

The son of a famed civil rights leader, Jackson, a Democrat, entered Congress in 1995 and resigned last November. Sandi, as she's known, was a Chicago alderman but resigned last month amid the investigation.

Jackson used campaign money to buy such things as a $43,350, gold-plated, men's Rolex watch and $9,587.64 in children's furniture, according to court papers filed in the case. His wife spent $5,150 on fur capes and parkas, the document said.

"I offer no excuses for my conduct, and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I have made," the ex-congressman said in a written statement released by his lawyers. "I want to offer my sincerest apologies ... for my errors in judgment and while my journey is not yet complete, it is my hope that I am remembered for things that I did right."

The government said, "Defendant Jesse L. Jackson Jr., willingly and knowingly, used approximately $750,000 from the campaign's accounts for personal expenses" that benefited him and his co-conspirator, who was not named in the one-count criminal information filed in the case. The filing of a criminal information means a defendant has waived the right to have a grand jury consider the case.

@conservative scientistI agree with your assessment of Jackson, but have
no sympathy for his poor constituents.They reelected him in November
despite the fact that he never campaigned, had suffered a nervous breakdown and
was under
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